The present invention relates generally to data routing systems, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for efficiently routing packets through a network.
In packet switched communication systems, a router is a switching device which receives packets containing data or control information on one port, and based on destination information contained within the packet, routes the packet out another port to the destination (or an intermediary destination).
Conventional routers perform this switching function by evaluating header information contained within a first data block in the packet in order to determine the proper output port for a particular packet.
Efficient switching of packets through the router is of paramount concern. Referring now to FIG. 1A, a conventional router includes a plurality of input ports 2 each including an input buffer (memory) 4, a switching device 6 and a plurality of output ports S.
Data packets received at an input port 2 are stored, at least temporarily, in input buffer 4 while destination information associated with each packet is decoded to determine the appropriate switching through the switching device 6. The size of input buffer 4 is based in part on the speed with which the destination information may be decoded. If the decoding process takes too long as compared to the rate at which packets are received, large sized memory elements may be required or packets may be dropped.
In addition, the size of input buffer may be influenced by a condition referred to as “blocking”. Packets may be forced to remain in the input buffer after the destination information is decoded if the switching device cannot make the connection. Blocking refers to a condition in which a connection cannot be made in the switch due to the unavailability of the desired output port (the port is busy, e.g., routing another packet from a different input port). In summary, the size of input buffer 4 is dependent on a number of factors including the line input rate, the speed of the lookup process, and the blocking characteristics for the switching device. Unfortunately, conventional routers are inefficient in a number of respects. Each input port includes a dedicated input buffer and memory sharing between input ports is not provided for in the design. Each input buffer must be sized to meet the maximum throughput requirements for a given port. However, design trade-offs (cost) often necessitate smaller buffers for each port. With the smaller buffers, the possibility arises for packets to be dropped due to blocking conditions. While excess memory capacity typically exists in the router (due to the varied usage of the input ports), no means for taking advantage of the excess is afforded.
To minimize the occurrence of dropping packets, designers developed non head-of-line blocking routers. Referring now to FIG. 1B, a conventional non head-of-line blocking router includes a plurality of input ports 2 each including an input buffer (memory) 4, a switching device 6 and a plurality of output ports 8 each having an output buffer (memory) 9. In order to provide non head-of-line blocking, each output port 8 is configured to include an output buffer so that each output port can simultaneously be outputting packets as well as receiving new packets for output at a later time. As the size of the output buffer is increased, fewer packets are dropped due to head-of line blocking at input ports.
However, these designs are even more inefficient in terms of memory capacity and cost. Again, each output port includes a dedicated output buffer and memory sharing between output ports is not provided for in the design. Each output buffer must be sized to meet the maximum throughput requirements for a given port (in order to maintain its non head-of-line blocking characteristics). Even more excess memory capacity typically exists in the router (due to the varied usage of the input ports and output ports), yet no means for taking advantage of the excess is afforded. Twice the amount and bandwidth of memory has to be used than required to support the amount of data being moved through these types of devices.
What is desirable is to produce a router where the data packets can flow to a common memory, while routing decisions are made off-line. By separating the data path, the path along which the packet data traverses through the router, and the control path, a path used in evaluating the packet headers, memory can be conserved. In addition, by separating the data and control path, advanced filtering, policing and other operations can be performed without incurring expensive increases in the memory requirements for the router due to the additional time required to perform the extra operations.